It is well known to work cut grasses, hays or other crops on the field to form rows of the material which are dried and then baled at a later time by conventional baler machine equipment which is directed along each row. Applicant is aware of the following United States patents which disclose rakes of various types which are utilized to rake hay and similar crops: U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,019, issued Oct. 7, 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,901, issued Apr. 10, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,774, issued Apr. 28, 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,613, issued Jul. 29, 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,622, issued Jan. 11, 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,923, issued Nov. 8, 1977, U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,986, issued May 25, 1982, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,809, issued Sep. 12, 1989.
The arrangements disclosed in the above-identified patents are believed to be representative of the state of the art of hay and other cut crop rakes per se.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,217, issued Jul. 7, 1992, discloses a round baler having a wide windrow converging mechanism connected to the round baler machine and directing crop material to the baler. More particularly, a pair of separate, obliquely disposed, angled-in rakes of the rotating tine bar type are mounted slightly forwardly of the baler pickup in the marginal areas alongside the path of travel of the pickup to engage outlying materials and converge them inwardly into the main portion of the windrow as the baler advances.